Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
Post Reply
User avatar
C-Fan
Rekordy Polski
Posts: 11366
Joined: 23 Jan 2003 23:51
Location: Denver
Contact:

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog - Drilling Osis

Post by C-Fan » 08 Apr 2015 06:42

Be the red pencil:
Image
anhkhoashevakt wrote:I recently am incorporating a freestyle football trick named Abbas Around the World (AATW), which is basically a miraging kick - ss legover, into my strings. I think it would add a little flavor into the traditional strings, even though it may not be ADD concious, as it is not for anything I do anyway lol !

anhkhoashevakt
Shredalicious
Posts: 103
Joined: 26 Mar 2013 18:34

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog - Drilling Osis

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 09 Apr 2015 11:03

HAHA I will try my best, Ken! I don't think I will be revolutionizing anything, but my hope is to help freestyle football and freestyle footbag as much as humanly possible, and one aspect of that would be introducing tricks to both sides. 8)

anhkhoashevakt
Shredalicious
Posts: 103
Joined: 26 Mar 2013 18:34

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog - Drilling Osis

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 20 Apr 2015 18:23

Alright, time to revive this blog!

First post: Jamps V write up

Oh man was this one of the best events I've ever been to in my life! :D :D :D
So many went down, and went down beautifully, during that weekend. I hardly know now how to begin.

Let's start with the first night, Friday:

On Friday, because of the imminent arrival of freestylers from all over, PSU club members were all busy welcoming and accomodating. I actually got the easier job, only having to accomodate my fellow football freestyler, Noah, who came all the way from Easton. It took a great amount of coaxing for him to come so I was particularly excited. 2 other football freestylers were supposed to show up as well, but unfortunately they both cancelled due to unexpected business. Oh well... :(

Still, it was a great time, seeing Noah again. He was dropped off by Old Main at about 7:30 P.M. By that time, I also got a message from Ryan that a casual shred session would take place at Rec Hall at 8:00 P.M, so Noah and I walked together to Rec. When we arrived, nobody was there yet, and thus we started out doing some freestyle football in the squash courts of Rec Hall. Noah landed some sick long combos even with his recent lack of training due to schoolwork. As a bit of background, he and I went way back, 3-4 years ago, the time when I was still in Seattle as an undergrad. He discovered freestyle football first by seeing me and another friend performing at a Seattle Sounders soccer game, and then began to research videos and trained, ALL BY HIMSELF. When I first met the guy I immediately saw that he had an immense potential to be a beast at lowerbody football freestyle, and these recent years had not proven me wrong! It was great to see his improvements right there in front of me again.

After we have been doing lower combos for about 10 minutes, Ryan and the footbaggers arrived, and we followed the mass of freestylers to the side gym of Rec Hall, which was side by side with the main gym. In the main gym, another PSU event was taking place. I and Noah did more freestyle football, and partially watched everyone else played.

It was going great until one lady who was overseeing the event in the main gym came to us and said that we could not play there any more. We decided to peacefully leave the side gym and headed back to the squash courts. As we were moving Noah told me: "Just like freestyle [football], we always get kick out of places!" that made me chuckle, but also thought of how true it was. When you think about it, freestyle football and freestyle footbag are basically the same thing, except one sport used a ball and the other used a bag, and that's it. :lol:

When we were at squash, the shred picked up again. Me and Noah were joined by Aidan (another football freestyler at PSU) finally, and the three of us decided to continue doing some more freestyle football (like 30 minutes of it), after which we went over to the shred courts and observed people do freestyle footbag. Noah was very impressed with the trick Gyro Reverse Eclipse, which Ianek and Evan both could do very well, and he was also impressed with many other things about freestyle footbag, which made me happy, since my ultimate goal this meeting was to provide the freestyle footbaggers with some live images of freestyle football, and vice versa. It was going well and I loved every second of it so far.

After the shred, the freestyle footbaggers decided to get something to eat. However, Noah and Aidan decided to come back to Aidan's place, so I accompanied them. At Aidan's house, we talked to each other and generally had a good time while watching some videos of both freestyle football and freestyle footbag. After that, me and Noah headed back to my house to crash for the night. I talked to him on the way back about my self realization these past months. It is always great to have people that you could confide in times of need, and that was why I valued my freestyle footbag and freestyle football friends so much.

Then, we went to sleep! This was the end for Friday! :D :D :D


(continued tomorrow)

anhkhoashevakt
Shredalicious
Posts: 103
Joined: 26 Mar 2013 18:34

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog - Drilling Osis

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 21 Apr 2015 12:23

OK, next...

Saturday:

The day started out for me at 8:30. For some reason, nowadays when I didn't have to go to work any more, I'd actually wake sooner, and felt better... go figure. :roll: But still, as Noah was still in bed, I decided to make a simple breakfast comprising of eggs and rice. I made some extra rice in case Noah wanted some. When he woke at about 10ish, he didn't want to eat (yet) so we began to pack our things and prepared to head out for the shred location.

That was when we received notifications on facebook that the shred place was changed to Rec Hall South gym because of the chilly weather. Me and Noah took the bus to school, chatting on the way.

When we arrived at Rec South gym, people had gradually begun to show up: Ivan, Ryan, Matt K., Nick P., Dan C., Kevin H. ... and others were there. Me and Noah once again moved into the corner to do some freestyle football and awaiting the start of the events. However, before anything could happen, we were told to move away from the area, and thus had to relocate (again!). Guess that comment about getting "kicked out" of freestyle areas by Noah the previous day was still exerting its effects... :mrgreen:

After some decisions, we relocated to the basketball courts near South Halls. Me and Noah continued to do our thing while the others began to warm up. I immediately noticed that the wind was very strong, and was affecting our enjoyment a little bit, but fortunately it was not that bad. I introduced Noah to the Canadians, which he did not meet the other day.

After a while, Noah and I was tired, and as Noah was hungry, we decided to go to Pitta Pit. We texted Aidan on the way to come and meet us there, and he did. After getting some food and drinks for about 30 minutes, we got back to the shred place, and noticed that... we had missed 2 events: Mirage Racing and Last Man Standing. Darn it! But still, more are on the way, and I was particularly excited for Renegade and Routines, especially Routines as I got one lining up that I promised myself I would force Nick Landes to watch, since I did the same routine last New Year's Jam and he was not watching, even though I specifically asked him to... The nerve!

Next event was Requests, and as I'm not feeling confident to enter any event with my current footbag shoes (which is the same as my freestyle football shoes), I decided not to enter. Intermediately requests happened first. Nathan B. and Ivan were the ones qualifying for Open Requests. Nathan B. continued ripping it up during Open Request, and got to be one of the 5 (or 6) that was left standing at the end, which was very impressive. The last 2 contenders were unsurprisingly Nick Landes and Evan Gatesman, and both were impressive. Evan finally got out on Double Pick Up - Pixie Wauxpin, so Nick Landes ended up taking Requests as well. Combining with the 2 events he won previously, he was reaping a fortune! 8O 8O 8O

Next event was Routines, and I realized that I had yet warmed up for it! I immediately tried to warm up, but my legs felt funky for some reason, and the wind was not contributing. I regretted immediately the decision to not get up and warm up right away after Requests ended. Realizing that I would not be able to do a perfect routine anyway, I watched Cass's routine on the sideline, and it was very impressive. I was next, and even as the music started I realized I would not be able to do the routine as best as I could, and the constant wind would not be helping. I made 3 drops overall, with some minor mistakes accompanying that as well. The only thing I was doing well was the 2nd half of it, when I was able to pull off a near perfect climax (with only 1 drop at the end). Oh well, I guess I would take this as a reminder to practice more outside and learn how to deal with environmental conditions, as well as warm up as soon as possible. There was something there to be learned, and I'd take it! :lol:

Nathan B. was next and he ripped it up with a crazy routine done to the Skyrim main theme. Funny thing was, I used to know that song by heart, so when he was doing it I remembered myself singing along in dragon tongue: "Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin, wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal!...". It was a really nerd-out moment for me. :lol:

Last event of the day was renegade, and I invited Noah to come up with me. Nick L, Nick P., and Evan G. were also showing off their skills. In the midway through, I noticed that Noah did not really want to do it (he was never a showman my choice - even though he always had the skills to - and focused only on improving his skills rather than showing it) and I called myself stupid. Well, at least I would never make the mistake of inviting people to show their skills without asking their opinion first again. :oops: Still, one of the highlights of renegade was Noah pulling off a hardcore lower combo perfectly 1st try, so I was still happy with that. :mrgreen:

After a while, me and Noah decided to sit down and let the Nicks and Evan do their thing. From then on it was insane. I asked Nick L. for a Flipwalk - Doof - Swirling Dragon combo and he almost did it first try 8O . Nick P. landed Fairy far Revvup 8O and it was beautiful! Gatesman landed Barfly Swirl - Barfly Swirl and Whirling paradox Drifter 8O.

After the showcase was almost over, I had the opportunity to went on and present my thesis about my "allround flow" in footbag and it already was well received by the Nicks and Cass, so I was happy with that.

After that, the footbaggers and I decided to head to Big Bowl and get some Chinese food together. Noah and Aidan left for their house to train some more freestyle football. I encountered a random dude doing backflips and ended up gotten some tips from him about how to do backflips, which was an awesome bonus! After we ate and felt very good about ourselves, we headed back to shred haus. It turned out afterwards that the after party was going to be held at shred haus instead of Aidan's place, so we did not have to leave at all. We chat and all around had a fantastic time, even though everybody was tired. Me, Cass, and Nick L. had a yoga session down the basement, and I gotta say I was amazed by their flexibility and the gracefulness of their movements. I should really get into yoga.

More and more people began to get to shred haus, and it soon got crowded. I was afraid that the place would not be able to withstain hosting so many people, but it seemed to do pretty okay! As the festivities commenced, Drew, Alex, and then Nick P. got up and did a fantastic comedy show. It was awesome to see Nick dive more and more into the stand up comedy scene, and he looked like he was doing ok for himself! :D

Next up, me. I contemplated a great deal before deciding that I was going to do a singing performance for everyone. At first, I would make it so that there was a poll before my performance to see if anyone wanted me to do it or not, but apparently everyone wanted me to :lol: so I got up and took the mic.

This was what followed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgZnfhVU80

Afterwards, I could not remember exactly what happened (partly because I was closing my eye and followed the song almost all the way through). This song (in Vietnamese) I specifically picked because it concerned the issue of identity and self - realization, which I would be able to relate to. And in fact I did. :D

After that, me and Noah went to the kitchen to get some of the scrambled eggs made by Nick L. (who turned out to be a great cook as well. Seriously, was there anything this guy couldn't do?), and something amazing happened. Noah, when asked by Drew on what his opinion on footbag was, answered: "It was so amazing man! I loved it!". Drew seemed to be greatly pleased by that, while I just stood by the fridge and smiled. That was my purpose bringing them all together all along, and that meant more to me than anything. Drew was always a bit apprehensive about football freestylers as he viewed them (us) as arrogant. I hope he would have a better perspective of us after this and realized that may be, some of us was worth making friends with after all! :wink: :D :D :D

Then, we all went downstairs to play 4 square. Nick L., Ianek, and Evan came down soon later, and revised the rule a bit: We were going to play 9 square (!) instead of 4 square, and man, did it got intense quickly. But it was also very fun at the same time.

Evan decided to shred a little bit more afterwards, so I was watching him doing some more crazy things. Eventually, however, I got tired (may be I should of woken up a bit later than 8:30 that day after all lol), and at 1:30 A.M Sunday, me and Noah said goodbye to everyone to go back to my place.

It was an awesome and one of the most eventful days I've ever had in my life.

Next: Sunday - the goodbyes.

anhkhoashevakt
Shredalicious
Posts: 103
Joined: 26 Mar 2013 18:34

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 08 May 2015 14:54

Sorry, long time no post! ;)

Sunday:

On Sunday, when Noah and I got to Hub, Nick P. and some others were already there, warming up and eating bananas. As I was drained after the long sessions yesterday, I decided to take the day easy and just do some basic tricks.

Middle through the session, Nick Landes and Evan joined the circles, and things got pretty crazy from that. At one point, Kevin asked Nick for tips on doing paradox whirls, and Nick immediately busted out 20+ of them, all while talking and explaining. Totally unreal level this guy has.

In the middle of the session, as in fluenced by Nick P. and everyone else, I finally gave in and don a pair of Lavers. I was previously decided that I was going to be doing footbag in my freestyle football shoes so that I will be able to do both in one performance, but it turned out it was not allowing me to learn clippers properly, as well as pissing me off during sessions, and thus I decided to switch back to Lavers. I guess I will figure out how to do that routine by another way, somehow.

After a while, there were workshops, set up by Ianek where Nick P., Nick L., Evan, and Ianek taught different techniques to everyone. I joined in Nick's stepping tutorial. This was my 3rd time learning how to step with him, and I felt like afterwards that I was getting the right motion this time, which was good. I need to set with my support leg, not my clipper leg. Has to remember that always from now on.

I also joined in the double down tutorial by Evan. Double down is something that does not feel natural to me at all. I attempted it in the past, never even got close. After the tutorial with Evan (and with some input from Drew), I felt like I got some good tips on how to do them:

1. Set from front to back on Paradons, just like a toe -> clipper transition, and do not set too high.
2. First dex is like a reverse guay, then just fall down on the second dex.

Up til this moment, it still hasn't clicked for me yet. I guess it's one of those tricks that I have to get with difficulty, but I have confidence that it is possible.

At the end of the day, everyone said their good byes. Me and Hogan shared a heart to heart talk. That dude's totally cool! I also said good bye to Cassy, who appreciated the all-round flow I demonstrated on Saturday, which made me very happy! I can't wait til everyone started doing them, and inventing more difficult versions themselves. It's going to be glorious!

Then, me, the shred haus guys, Ianek, Nick, and Evan got some food at Big Bowl, and then came back to the Shred Haus. We had a fun time chilling with each other and watched the last episode of Futurama together, which was a ton of good times. I decided to chill at Shred Haus that night.

On the next day, I said good bye to Nick and Evan, who was going back to their respective places on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, as I'm going to US Open, I'll be seeing Nick again soon enough! :lol:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of the semester was a blur. Everyone was so busy with everything it was hard for sessions and/or hanging out time to be arranged. However, as of yesterday, Thursday May 7th, the last session of the year (also the last session before Ryan graduated) took place. Everybody played like demons, it was amazing. There were good progresses made by everyone. I myself had done:

:arrow: Blur - combo - Pixie Legover - Magellan - Pixie Legover - Pixie Legover - combo. This was the first time I did Blur in a combo
:arrow: (left) DATW - combo - (right)DATW - DATW - DATW - combo
:arrow: 20 Tiltless contacts toe string (could easily be more had I not screw up the Pixie Legover at the end)
:arrow: BSOS Stepping far legover - combo

Looking back, it had been an amazing time hanging out with the PSU Footbag Club. As some of them (like Ryan) would be gone after this semester, it was hard for me to say good byes. However, I do trust that we will meet again at future meetings and competitions. And until that day come, I'll be practicing.

One more theme song to finish this thought: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnwZ4BO5PVU

anhkhoashevakt
Shredalicious
Posts: 103
Joined: 26 Mar 2013 18:34

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 28 Oct 2015 12:02

It has surely been a while...

I have never really been good at blogging, to be honest. May be that was why I stopped doing it. However, I think it is important to keep doing it to eventually get better. So here goes...

It has been a quiet couple of months for me, especially in terms of footbag. I have a huge freestyle soccer competition in December (the North American championship) so almost all of my attention is focused on that. Therefore, I am ashamed to say I have been neglecting footbag a lot, training for an average of once/week (for 1 hour with the PSU guys). Recently, however, I've been trying to restructure my training schedule so that I will have at least 2 hours of footbag every week, in part because I watched this crazy video that motivated me to get better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re8aHnPXunU

I have been keeping up training with the PSU guys every week, however, and despite the lack of training, my level seems not to suffer that much to be honest. I think that is the result of me adjusting my freestyle soccer style so that now it resembles footbag, meaning that I would start and (try my best to) end a lowerbody trick with a stall rather than a kick. I actually have been improving on that front, making me think may be having an all-stall style in freestyle soccer is not as far-fetched for me as I originally thought.

I also have been training clipper both sides a lot with a ball, and I can really feel the improvements coming, especially on my left side. I did a perfect butterfly with the ball on my strong side the day before, which was a great accomplishment. Plus, when I switch to the bag again, I can hold the bag way better.

I have been having these improvements (using a bag) as a result:

:arrow: Ripwalk BSOS - combo - DATW - combo - almost Dimwalk (I'd say this is my best combo ever)
:arrow: 3 Osii - combo (I suck at Osii so I was stoked to get this combo!)
:arrow: Blur - combo
:arrow: 9 butterflies (my record, which I plan to improve a bit). I also am much more comfortable inserting butterfly - butterfly into long strings nowadays.
:arrow: Ducking clipper - Ducking clipper - combo

In terms of new tricks, I am also learning Double Orbits in preparation for Double Downs. I think that may help a bit with the dex speed, and then I will have to figure out how to set it from toe-clipper.

In terms of life, I am currently looking for a job/jobs (in my field) near my area in Spring that will offer me 20 hour/week. It sounded easy but I've been looking for a while but still haven't found any. I am close on some leads though, but they are all part-time volunteering opportunities that will only offer me about 12 hrs so far. Also, due to the fact that they are all volunteering based, I will not get paid for them. Oh well...

In these last couple weeks I've been fantasizing how nice it would be if I can become North American Freestyle Soccer champion, if only for the reason that I may be able to use that to apply for a citizenship here in the US. No basis for that though, but thinking about that really provided me with a reason to try my best for the competition. Of course, there is a chance of me getting it, but it's definitely not 100%, especially when the crazy Mexicans are involved. Also, the format of competition is battles only, which sucks because I would have done way better at routines. I guess I'm just going to try my best and see what happens.

anhkhoashevakt
Shredalicious
Posts: 103
Joined: 26 Mar 2013 18:34

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 02 Nov 2015 16:26

So, last week I have officially secured 6/20 of my weekly hrs next semester 8) . Just 2.5 more of that and I will be able to feel secure for next semester.

In terms of footbag, I've been kicking with the club last Tuesday. Greg Wenner and Ben Babyak accompanied me. Greg is still going very strong. His game has improved significantly ever since he got back from Seattle. Paradons are like cake for him now, and his infinities and whirls are a lot more controlled! Ben hasn't kicked in a while, but still did some wicked long strings, which was awesome. On my account, I had the chance to work on some long combos with Whirls, Ducking clippers, and some stepping moves.

Stepping is becomed easier and easier for me, even though I still don't like the form of it. I will need to work more on the spring required on the standing leg in order to get a higher and more controlled set.

Besides that, I am also working on some new sitdown and upper moves, as well as doing more and more of what I called "allround flows" that incorporate elements of uppers, sitdowns, and classic footbag tricks. The more I got into doing these, the more I realized how much potential there are for these moves in freestyle footbag, especially for routines. Hopefully I will be able to show off some of them in the next competition.

Also, as a side note, I got 24 Tiltless contacts using a chainmail bag, and I think my basics are good enough for me to consider prolonging my combos (up til 40-45 2-add moves) and may be start going into Guiltless territory.

User avatar
Ryan_Morris
Multidex Master
Posts: 287
Joined: 15 May 2013 18:04

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by Ryan_Morris » 11 Nov 2015 18:25

I'm loving the soccer perspective you're bringing to footbag. Way to be a trailblazer!
Ryan Morris

PSU crew, ECFU, Michigan Footbag, and counting.

anhkhoashevakt
Shredalicious
Posts: 103
Joined: 26 Mar 2013 18:34

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 14 Feb 2016 13:07

Ryan_Morris wrote:I'm loving the soccer perspective you're bringing to footbag. Way to be a trailblazer!
probs to that man! :wink: :wink: highly appreciate it.

So, holy SH!TE! Haven't updated this in a while, have I? My bad! No big deal! Here I go again!

I have found out one important thing about my relationship with footbag in the last couple months. I originally wanted to just keep footbag a side project (freestyle football is still my main), but after a whole lot of soul searching and self-reflection (and yes, they are basically the same thing... just sounds cool together that's all!), I realized that I don't really want to be world champion or anything in freestyle football after all. I have never been good with positions of power and influence. I have ALWAYS been good at being a bridge, a conduit between culture, people, and skill sets. Therefore, I have decided that from now on, I will be the bridge between freestyle football and freestyle footbag. My skill in both will not likely be the best, but I will use my knowledge of one sport to better the other, and I will facilitate more positive and more informed freestyle football - freestyle footbag interactions in the future. :D

Therefore, I have devised an entirely different training regiment, one I will follow religiously if I have enough time a day to do so:

Mon - Fri: 1.5 hr of freestyle football with 30 minutes of footbag. Monday and Tuesday will be drill days where I will work on concepts need improving. Wed and Thursday will be freestyle days, and Friday will be "creative day", in which I will try to create something new, or just simply try a freestyle football concept with a bag.

Also, my freestyle football has recently changed. My lowers style is now all stall-based rather than kick based, so I am literally doing freestyle footbag with a ball as my lowers. There are immense potential with this sort of thing, and I am more happy training stalls now than I am with kicks. I want to get to a point where I can have a balance between kick and stall based tricks with both freestyle football and footbag. It will be my main exercise project of my life going forward.

New tricks I learned in the past weeks:
:arrow: Double over Down (strong side)
:arrow: more sitdowns and sole tricks
:arrow: Stepping ss clipper! YES! I WANT MORE OF THIS GOING FORWARD PLEASE! MORE STEPPING TRICKS!

This weekend was Valentine weekend, and we here at PSU held a small time jam with some of the guys out of town: Ryan, Ivan, Aidan, and Nick P. came. We had a blast of a time! Kicking with everybody again felt soooo good! And they all improved! Everybody is now near Guiltless! Such an amazing feeling.

Some other highlights include:
* Chilling at Greg's place and playing Tetris! They were the most insane Tetris games ever. You guys should have seen the way Greg was reacting to it! Total classic! I regretted so much not bringing my camera to record it!
* Pod racing game with Nick and Ben. I don't think I laughed any harder in all my life!
* Going to see Deadpool the movie with all the guys. It was heavenly. The movie was f!cking fantastic, and I got to sit through and then discussed it with everybody. Best. Time. Ever!
* Chilling with Ryan and Ivan back at my place.

(Okay, now that we get the "Sorority girl" phase in the highlights out of the way, let us continue as serious adults)

This Jam also marked the first time I ever played shirtless. Recently, I have been reading a lot into self compassion, courage, shame, and insecurities. One of the books that I would highly recommend for anyone to read is "The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brene Bown. I found out that I have always been ashamed of my own body and the chubby pieces hanging out the sides of my shorts, and have always worn shirts as a result. This Jam, I finally muttered enough courage to take my shirt off, and said: "You know what! I am imperfect, but holy sh!t I am worth playing footbag with damn it! It's who I am, take it or leave it!" and just went all out. It felt good! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

And then, Ryan reminded me to write some sh!t in my footblog, and so here it is!

This has actually been the best mini Jam I've ever taken part in. This will be a memory I won't soon forget.

Now, let me just end this by telling you guys some of the goals I will work on next month:
:arrow: Double down (more consistent on strong side, and get it on flip side, if I can)
:arrow: More sitting sole sh!t, including a headstand sole stall.

Wish me luck, y'all! :wink: See ya in the next write up!

boyle
Post Master General
Posts: 3146
Joined: 19 Sep 2007 23:42
Location: Canberra, Australia
Contact:

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by boyle » 14 Feb 2016 15:34

Headstand sole would be awesome. I think there are plenty of lumps and bumps and very white bodies around the footbag community. I don't think many of us have the kind of body to show off and the shirtless thing is more of a practicality matter.

Hope to kick a bag and ball with you sometime. I like your ideas for being a conduit between the two.

User avatar
F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
Post Master General
Posts: 4092
Joined: 05 Feb 2010 19:53
Location: Drumore, PA

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 15 Feb 2016 00:06

Yo dude, great jam. Props on hosting. I had a great time kicking with you all. It was helpful to be around some good friends, but after Deadpool, I was just thinking too much about my life and Valentine's Day. I had to peace out and be by myself. Sorry if I bummed any of you guys out. Your game has really improved, dude. I love watching you do your evolutionary sit-down shred with a bag and your Stepping is just about to be there for you. Also, big props on playing without a shirt. It just occurred to me, as I was reading, that you don't ever play without a shirt. Props on getting past giving a sh!t ;) I'm glad you feel comfortable with who you are now. That's a lot more than tons of people can say. Hope to see you again soon.
Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

Funblog

"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman

anhkhoashevakt
Shredalicious
Posts: 103
Joined: 26 Mar 2013 18:34

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 07 Aug 2016 07:15

Boy oh boy haven't I updated this beauty in a while...
Well, to all my friends who still patient enough to check this... I am still alive! Yay!
...Add that to the list of positive things in my life right now, which is sadly not a lot of 'em...

Let's start with the good news! FOOTBAG!
Yes, I got these beauties recently:
:arrow: Stepping knee bump - eclipse - string.
:arrow: Stepping far legover BSOS - combo - DLO BSOS.
:arrow: very solid 40 contact Tiltless runs... I intend to break the 50 barrier soon! Due to the fact that I usually do 1 trick every second, that means I will be able to do a 50 second routine if I keep it up and try to land 50 strings more consistently!

Also, I had the privilege of training with RCS, especially Justin Dale, for 3 sessions prior to my return to Vietnam. Those were amazing. Justin is such a knowledgeable person in every area. We had amazing chats about politics, super heroes, and footbag. The 2 nights I stayed at his place and Minigolf with Justin and Reilley were the most fun I had in my entire stay in Seattle.

Justin helped me correct some of my form mistakes earlier with clipper and consecutive butterflies. He also fixed my Osis, and taught me how to do Whirl! I learned more from the 3 sessions I had that week with him than my entire previous year trying to learn stuff on my own! AMAZING!

In the freestyle football front, I also smashed my current toe kicks (juggling) record by achieving 150 juggles with the ball. This encouraged me a great deal, because I was in such a deep end with my juggling problem a while back. Now everything seems to be clicking into place again, which is amazing. I also got 5 ATWs BS (the stall kind), 4 legovers, and Mirage on both sides with the ball, which I am very happy about. I intend, in 5 years, to achieve a balance between my kicking and stalling lower tricks (ATW, legover, you know, footbag style tricks...) with the ball. That will be my ultimate goal.

And I may have recruited a person to join the Footbag legion in my first week here in Vietnam! I was practicing footbag in this gym that my dad and I went to, and he offered to join me, without proper shoes and all. 20 minutes in he was hitting 4-5 toe stalls BS and I was like WHAAAATTTT???? This guy is a coach there in the fitness center so I imagine he'd have some pretty good control on his legs already. If I'm lucky enough and he sticks with it, it's going to be amazing! :D

OK, those are the good news.

The bad news?

I returned to Vietnam.

Well, may be I shouldn't antagonize the whole thing right off the bat. It was just the first week coming back here. I don't know what the future will bring yet. However:

1. I just cannot believe how incredibly shallow some people here are. The prime example of this is the passport issue.
The moment I got down from the plane, I walked to this customs station, and the girl working there at the time saw my passport, and immediately said that it looks really bad.
This was not an isolated incident! In fact, it has happened to me countless times before when I presented my passport to Vietnamese customs. I would have taken their word too, except for the fact that no-one, none(!), in the US seems to care about that. The only shit I have ever taken about the appearance of my passport came from only Vietnamese customs.
My passport is in no way spotless. I have some scrawny-looking pages from using it so many times as an ID. However, the entire passport is still very much intact. It has become extremely dear to me because of that, like an armor worn out by battle, and yet so incredibly familiar and comfortable that the knight can't make do without it. And now I have to take shit from customs simply because they do not think it looks nice enough.

2. Before I returned to Vietnam, I had this elaborate scheme planned out, one that involves me volunteering at a homeless shelter and collecting my experience, while they'd provide me with 3 meals/day and a place to stay during the week (but I'd still have to take care of travelling money from home to there on weekends, detergent for washing... etc). I had my parents' approval all the time when I was in the States. And then, when I returned to Vietnam, they went back on their words and basically tell me to get a real line of work. When I asked them if they'd consider volunteering and helping people at the shelter to be a "real line of work", they said no because they think "real work" should involve me getting paid. Essentially, now I am forced to renegotiate the terms with the shelter in which I can only come help on Saturdays, but hopefully I will be able to work something out. That is still way better than me having to give up my dreams of getting into a school in the US next year all together.

3. I can't believe how fucking conservative my parents are. After I explain that in the Counseling psychology field, a Master means that I would be seeing clients more, and a Ph.D would mean a job in the research tract, my father still wanted me to do a Ph.D in Vietnam after I said that I wanted to just get a Masters. He said it's because there are so many so called "paper Ph.Ds" (Ph.Ds in name only, involving stupid lazy fucks using their excess money to get Ph.Ds that don't mean jack shit) around, I need to get a Ph.D as well to "go with the times". I was just as a lost of words. If this is the way the country is now, then fucking shit please allow me out, because I am way too liberal to believe that you need to bow down to a system that would allow that kind of shit to happen to its people.

However, I just do not think the situation in Vietnam is that bad. What I think is that my mom and dad are just people that somehow got left out of the passage of time, not realizing that Vietnam has become more and more liberal over the years. I know this because I have friends in Vietnam who are quite liberal, and they are doing just fine.

3. Another thing that I can't stand about my dad is just the aspect of my dating future. No matter how many times I told him to just leave me the fuck alone to choose my future wife, he still says that he wants me to marry somebody who's Vietnamese. Worse than that, he said that I should marry somebody who's South Vietnamese, simply because a poll somewhere in a random newspaper (probably tabloid) in Vietnam indicates that many Vietnamese people (who are just as fucking conservative as my mom and dad are, if not more) said no to the question "should a Southerner marry a Northerner?". The whole thing reminds me of the House of Slytherin in Harry Potter. You are only allowed to marry a pure blood wizard/witch, end of story. Eventually what it did to them, I think you guys have known already.

That was just scratching the surface. I arrived in Vietnam last week, and now I'm just so fucking anxious to get out. I think that's a new record. Well fucking done.

I want to get out. I want to experience Vietnam. Even with all this, I still have hope that somewhere, there are people who are liberal in Vietnam. They do not have to be like me. They just have to have an open mind and are willing to listen to reason. I really hope I will be able to find them.

I will try my best to update this blog more frequently in the future. I feel like when I need to vent something, writing it down and talking to people helps. Right now, I don't have a professional to talk to, so I am just going to write it down. I hope I won't drag anybody down with this. :cry:

AdAstra
Multidex Master
Posts: 218
Joined: 25 Jul 2015 07:16
Location: Lexington, KY, USA

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by AdAstra » 07 Aug 2016 12:09

anhkhoashevakt wrote:
I want to get out. I want to experience Vietnam. Even with all this, I still have hope that somewhere, there are people who are liberal in Vietnam. They do not have to be like me. They just have to have an open mind and are willing to listen to reason. I really hope I will be able to find them.

I will try my best to update this blog more frequently in the future. I feel like when I need to vent something, writing it down and talking to people helps. Right now, I don't have a professional to talk to, so I am just going to write it down. I hope I won't drag anybody down with this. :cry:
Feel that. Kentucky isn't the easiest place to live either on that front. (Though I wouldn't trade the natural beauty of the state for almost anything.)

Hope everything works out for you.
Austin
Lexington, KY, USA, Pale Blue Dot

User avatar
bustinjustin
Fearless
Posts: 577
Joined: 15 Dec 2003 09:39
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by bustinjustin » 08 Aug 2016 13:28

I was about to post in my blog about your week with me. Glad to see you made a post.
I wanted to add to your accomplishments that you hit for the first time during your week with me:

8 infinities
whirl x 3
open legover>ss down>pdx mirage rpt
smear>op down>pdx mirage rpt
I think you hit bop drill ss down>osis>pdx mirage rpt
smear>plo rpt
osis>ss down

I think there's more stuff if there too. I know hitting the stepping stuff is more interesting but I enjoy most when someone is pushing their basics and improving their foundation. I get the biggest sense of accomplishment from footbag not from pushing my own combos but when I can pass along my knowledge and the training clicks with someone I am working with. That week with you was very gratifying and you killed it in terms of improving your game. Make sure to include in your highlights going forward your infinity records, osis records and guiltless rpt combos...and remember, no more clippers! ESPECIALLY FROM TOE!
Justin Dale
Videos

boyle
Post Master General
Posts: 3146
Joined: 19 Sep 2007 23:42
Location: Canberra, Australia
Contact:

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by boyle » 10 Aug 2016 01:49

I imagine it's hard being back at home in Vietnam after a few years by yourself in the USA. Too bad you weren't around when I was there on a visit. Look forward to more updates from you. You should try and make it to Australia for the the freestyle world tour in Melbourne, that's in December. I won't be around then though, so maybe come a different time.

At the moment I guess you are just in that settling back in period. Is a Masters from the US considered a good thing in Vietnam. I talked to some people there who said a lot of people value a "good" education, though a lot of schools are very similar aside from in name.

Maybe could be a good thing to get a job in a different part of Vietnam, or get something where they have to travel around from place. I imagine there's also some money to be made in giving freestyle demos.

anhkhoashevakt
Shredalicious
Posts: 103
Joined: 26 Mar 2013 18:34

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 15 Aug 2016 21:56

AdAstra thank you man. :) :) I am sure with time I will re-adjust. It's just an annoyance for me ATM.
@ Justin: yep, I will update everything with all my Guilt records from now on.
@ Dan: thanks Dan. I will try my best to get over there sometime this year. Hopefully I will be able to.

In other news: I finally got a :arrow: 50 contact Tiltless string. :D :D :D and :arrow: Ripwalk BSOS for the first time since... 2014 I believe. Can't believe it has been that long.
My stepping is getting better and better nowadays, using the method Justin have been showing me: don't set the bag but instead using the scissor action from both legs to do the set.

I have finally taken some steps towards self-sufficiency here in Vietnam: I am currently looking for a job as an English instructor at one of the various English learning centers around here. So far I have identified a pretty good place, and now I'm in the process of doing the interviewing. I have also been learning how to finally ride a motorcycle, which is basically the most popular mean of transportation in Vietnam. Fighting for my freedom one act at a time. :wink:

I think my goals for the end of the year will be:

- 14 infinities or more
- at least 3 osii
- Ripwalk B2B
- Diving clipper BS
- Drifter BS

Let's see how many of these I will be able to get.

boyle
Post Master General
Posts: 3146
Joined: 19 Sep 2007 23:42
Location: Canberra, Australia
Contact:

Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by boyle » 15 Aug 2016 23:51

50 tiltless is a great accomplishment, awesome work. Good idea to learn how to ride a motorcycle. My little boy still says things like "lots of motorbike in Vietnam". Good idea for teaching English too, I hear in Asia that the pay is generally quite reasonable.

Post Reply